The Dark Truth that Trump Just Told

Donald Trump made headlines today when he seemed to indicate in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press that he would not be inclined to “uphold the Constitution” and give all persons, including non-citizens, due process as required by the Fifth Amendment. This made front page headlines across the nation, and commentators explained they were shocked by his audacity. But Trump is simply telling a truth: Presidents (and more generally, the elite classes in America) have ignored the Constitution for many decades.

This is true of the specific issue Trump was discussing: immigration. Trump has made headlines by grabbing people off the street and shipping them to a terrorism confinement center in El Salvador — without a hearing and, in some cases, in direct violation of court orders. This is, of course, the opposite of due process. What is commonly ignored by the media, however, is that these sorts of incidents have been happening for many decades. Indeed, in 2014, the ACLU issued a shocking report indicating that a record number of people were being deported without the right to a hearing — including, in some cases, US citizens. Trump is merely stating what has been US policy for years, including under President Obama.

Or take Trump’s statement that he did not like the idea of giving criminal trials. The right to trial by jury is a right that is sacrosanct in the US Constitution. Once again, many commentators were horrified that he would treat this crucial democratic right as an annoyance that could be dispensed with on a whim. Yet that is the reality for millions of Americans. We incarcerate more people than any nation in the world, many of whom are in a cage waiting for a trial. We refuse to release them unless they give up that right: a process called coercive plea bargaining. This is part of the reason why 95+ percent of federal cases end without a trial. It is part of the reason judges in California had no problem imposing judgments against me without bothering to acknowledge that they forgot to give me a trial.

But the most fundamental way the Constitution has been ignored is in its most basic principle: equal protection for all. We live in a society where the most vulnerable beings — human beings or non-human animals — are literally trampled to death while billionaires and celebrities have parties in space. The American experiment was intended to end the rule of man and replace it with the rule of law: a nation based on principle and reason rather than corruption and nepotism. But that experiment has never fulfilled its vision truly. The animals of this earth, who lie in cages awaiting slaughter, are the latest evidence of that. When Trump ignores these rules on behalf of those he favors, then, he is simply revealing a darker truth. This nation has never upheld the Constitution. Perhaps we should be thankful that Trump is helping us see that.

That does not mean that things are beyond repair. To the contrary, I am increasingly optimistic that, partly due to the truths Trump is revealing, movements will rise up to create change. But it does mean that we have to be honest about where we are as a species and nation.